Americans under the age of 35 believe that vaping is safer5/5 (1)

In a recent article that was published on wfmz.com, it was reported that “Most Americans under age 35 think that using electronic cigarettes does not cause as much damage to lung health as compared with traditional cigarettes, according to the results of a new national consumer survey.”

The survey was taken by over 2,000 people, all under the age of 35 – and basically showed that 44% of those who took the survey reported that they believed E-cigs to be ‘less harmful’ to the lungs than cigarettes made with tobacco. The figures showed that more men than women are in favor of E-cigs – with 54% of men believing that the electronic devices pose less of a risk.

But the article was also quick to point out how some doctors, especially in the United States, are still playing ‘extremely cautiously’ when it comes to e-cigs.

Here’s a quote from a medical doctor by the name of Peter Shields that was included in the report. He’s reportedly a thoracic oncologist, as well as a cancer control researcher. His job title is Deputy Director of Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, though he also plays roles at Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

Here’s the quote, as reported in the article…

“The truth is there is just so much we don’t know about these new products… We have no idea where in the spectrum these are, in terms of safety. Are they like cigarettes, or nothing like cigarettes? Do they affect people the same if they’ve never smoked, or a lot worse? We need to figure this out.”

Obviously, this doctor’s rhetoric matches that of a lot of physicians in the US – where it is rumored that Big Tobacco has its claws firmly planted within the FDA, which has recently passed regulations that will greatly impact the long-term future of vaping in the United States.

What’s the truth about vaping? That seems to be the big question

There are really three elements to this story that deserve to come to the limelight… first, that the public defends and believes in electronic cigarettes – secondly, that many medical professionals in the US are still seemingly behind the times (especially when you compare their official stances to that of Public Health England in the UK) where E-cigs and safety are concerned – and third, that it seems almost obvious that Big Tobacco has had at least a significant amount of influence in whether or not E-cigs are allowed to continue forward as they have been.

Up until this point, E-cigs have been pretty much unregulated in the US. But the FDAs regulations threaten to severely hinder the E-cig market, due to stringent and wide-sweeping regulations. The result will be an E-cig marketplace pretty much dominated by the big tobacco companies – which is almost as ironic as it is unfortunate for the huge number of small businesses that currently make up the bulk of the E-cig market in the United States.

You can read more about these regulations here, in an article published by BU.edu, titled “New FDA Regulations on Vaping Products a Failure: They do not protect public’s health, do impose a public safety hazard.”

If regulations in the US had mirrored those imposed by the EU in the UK, there would be much less of a problem – because those regulations don’t impose a huge price-tag on new products.

But let’s take a small break from this to go back to a different point – the fact that doctors in the US are still maintaining an almost fear-based approach to E-cigs. Granted, nobody wants a repeat of what happened with cigarettes. They were first hailed as healthy, and then it was slowly revealed, after the damage had already been done, that they actually caused cancer.

But these are also different times we live in – and the fact that no studies have really been able to point much of a negative finger at vaping in a general sense should be cause for some optimism.

Obviously, studies need to be conducted, and changes made accordingly – but so far, there really hasn’t been much proof of danger.

And yet, it seems that fear continues to reign supreme in the US where E-cigs are concerned – and it doesn’t look like the stigma is going to disappear overnight, despite the fact that most citizens seem to agree that they are certainly worth the risk in the meantime.

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It’s my passion to do the research about familiar to me topics, especially when it comes to electronic cigarettes and the whole vaping industry as such. I hope you will find my content useful and when / if you do – please do share it! I will appreciate it! :) See our ”Who We Are” page to find out more about me and my colleagues. Thanks and I look forward to your comments and feedback.